'The Valley of the Heart') (also known as Dayar-e-Dil)[2] is a Pakistani television drama serial, that originally aired on Hum TV from 17 March 2015 to 27 October 2015, in 33 episodes.
[10][11] It received critical appraisal for being visually-appealing for the male audience, due to the maintenance of their relationships in the story,[12] and was praised for its direction, cinematography and visuals.
Agha Jan's family parted ways long time ago due to the rebelliousness of his son, Behroze Bakhtiyar Khan (Mekal Zulfiqar) as he refused to marry a woman of his father's choice Arjumand Bedar Khan (Hareem Farooq) and went on to marry Ruhina Arsalan (Sanam Saeed) instead.
Soon after his marriage when Behroze came back to apologise to Agha Jaan, the young man and his wife were insulted and banished for life.
With constant persuasion of her mother, maternal uncle and cousin, Faraah demanded for a divorce from Wali along with her inheritance, which further increased tension in the family and became the cause of Agha Jaan's developing illness.
Faarah told her mother she did not want her inheritance, and that it was added to her divorce agreements without her choice, due to which Ruhi left the house in anger, leaving her daughter alone.
After Agha Jaan's second heart attack, Wali, driven by rage, kidnapped Faarah from her house and drove her to his summer resort, locking her in a room so she would not be able to escape.
Once Faarah calmed down, Wali made an agreement with her; that if she agreed to live with Agha Jaan for three months, he would give her a divorce so she could marry her cousin Moeez (Ahmad Zeb) whom he thought she loved.
Moeez ended up in jail, while Ruhi breaks all ties from her brother and reunites with Agha Jaan and her in-laws apologizing for her doings.
Diyar-e-Dil was developed by Hum TV's senior producer Momina Duraid of MD Productions, the channel hired the award-winning director Haseeb Hassan to direct the series.
Farhat has previously worked twice with Momina, when she wrote mega-hit drama serial in Pakistan television history Humsafar[17] and Mata-e-Jaan Hai Tu.
[18] Song composition is done by Shany Haider while background music is given by Bilal Allah Ditta, who chose Zeb Bangash and Momin Durrani[19] for singing.
However, due to promotional reasons the show was given a time slot of Tuesday, 8:00 pm and the pilot episode was released on 17 March 2015,[9] replacing channel's drama series Zid to Sundays.
But to do justice to the story (which revolves around 3 generations), the characters and their feelings, thirty plus episodes had to be written, otherwise bohut kuch reh jata.
[12] Actress Maya Ali and actor Osman Khalid Butt marked their third appearance together as a couple[26] having previously acted in Aik Nayee Cinderella and Aunn Zara.
Actors Ali Rehman Khan and Hareem Farooq were cast to portray the roles of Arjumand and Suhaib after their success in shows Rishtay Kuch Adhooray Se and Mausam.
Production also chose Behroze Sabzwari, Tara Mehmood, Azra Mansoor, Rasheed Naz, Ahmed Zeb and Eshita Mehboob for the supporting roles of Tajamul, Zuhra, Yasmeen, Beddar, Moeez and Laila respectively.
All lyrics are written by Sabir Zafar; all music is composed by Shany Haider, Bilal Allah DittaHum TV originally scheduled the series for Fridays slot, but Diyar-e-Dil aired an hourly episode on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m (Pakistan Standard Time).
Series has also aired internationally, for North America, New Zealand, Australia and Middle East on Hum TV World.
[42] However, onwards episode twentieth, ratings began to increase with an average of 9.0 TRPs [37] due to the plot change of Maya Ali and Osman Khalid Butt’s track.
Sadaf Haider of the Dawn praised the series' direction, cinematography, characterisation and production saying, "As with any excellent start the only fear is whether team Diyar-e-Dil can maintain the standards it has now set.
Farhat Ishtiaq is a great storyteller but this time she has honed her script-writing skills too and Haseeb Hassan has managed to translate this with seamless ease to our screens.
Director Haseeb Hassan has done a fabulous job of weaving this inter-generational story together combining beautiful cinematography and a fast paced, well-edited narrative to make a highly entertaining serial thus far.
"[12] In an issue of Dawn June 25, Sadaf said, "As a story, Diyar-e-Dil covers very traditional grounds: the honour and obedience we owe to our parents and the importance of family.
"[11] Aruba Adil of Aaj News praises it story line and consensus that, "Diyar-e-Dil is different from other soap drama serials".
She went to state five reasons that makes it different including, location, cast, realistic relationships, subtle love stories and unpredictable ending.
Moreover, the drama’s crisp editing and exceptional direction will make you head over heels in love with the natural scenic beauty of Baltistan.
[51] Buraq Shabbir of The News also lauded the serial and said, "The themes of love, respect, and family values are recurrent through Diyar-e-Dil.
The show does a neat job of exploring various emotions and how damaging it can be if one is arrogant and angry and spends time in a negative structure.